


Balls and Bunny Hills

by MadameFool



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Jily Challenge, M/M, Misunderstandings, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), One Shot, Unresolved Sexual Tension, disaster!James, jily, ski instructor!Lily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22060756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameFool/pseuds/MadameFool
Summary: „Alright, Potter?“Clearly, he fucking wasn’t and if his ski instructor had been just about anyone else, James would’ve admitted as much without hesitation.But she wasn’t.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	Balls and Bunny Hills

\- JAMES -

In his memory, snow had somehow tasted better.

As children they had munched on it as if it were a delicious slushy au naturel. He used to lick a snowball until it was all smooth and perfectly round and Sirius had delighted in breaking off icicles hanging over their balcony and sucking on them like on ice pops.

But even though the snow currently choking him had the consistency of fine powder, James did not enjoy the involuntary meal one bit.

„Alright, Potter?“

Clearly, he fucking wasn’t and if his ski instructor had been just about anyone else, James would’ve admitted as much without hesitation.

But she wasn’t.

He lifted his head to look up at the woman who had smoothly glided up to him.

Lily Evans, for that was her name, looked like a gorgeous but also mildly terrifying snow godess: her ski glasses throned atop her braided red hair, which glowed in the late afternoon sun and always seemed to hypnotize him in the worst moments.

„Mr. Potter, are you injured?“ She repeated more politely, clearly concerned now.

Right.

Answering when spoken to. That was a thing.

James spit out some more half melted snow. „Yeah – I mean no! I’m fine. All good.“

„Do you need help?“

„No, not at all,“ he quickly assured her. He hurried to get up and back to where she was waiting for him. How he had managed to fling his stupid ass _again_ off track into the fresh powdery snow he did not understand, but that was nothing new.

James did not understand the physics behind skiing.

He could admit to that.

Still, it seemed unfair that he, who was normally quite good at sports, should be this horrendously bad at this one.

Or at least it seemed unfair that he should be bad at it in front of his unreasonably good looking ski instructor. And that his crush on her seemed to grow proportionally to his skiing humiliation. And also that she should remain so infuriatingly stoic throughout the whole ordeal.

She was still eyeing him, her brow creased with worry and James once again wished she’d just laugh at him or something. At least that would break the awkward tension that had been looming between them since their first lesson five days ago.

He fished his skis out from his landing site and let his boots click back into place.

„Ready to continue?“ She asked.

James nodded and let himself glide forward, his skis forming a V in front of him, just like she had instructed. He saw her moving in smooth lines around him, observing his technique with a neutral expression.

God, he was disappointing her, wasn’t he?

She was probably doing her best not to roll her eyes at him because he was without a doubt awful at this. Every few meters he had to wildly flail his arms to make up for the lack of balance that was apparently inherent to the lower part of his body.

They were almost at the bottom of the damned bunny hill now and small children, barely reaching James‘ waist, were zooming past them at what seemed to him break neck speed.

It was humiliating.

And even more so considering that she had trained with him every day since he had arrived in this damned resort, but alas, the only visible improvement was his heightened pain tolerance to landing on his arse.

He’d be damned if he’d ever let Remus plan their holidays again.

„You know,“ she suddenly spoke, „it’s normal to struggle at the beginning. Most people don’t regularly use the specific muscle groups active during skiing and it takes some time to build those muscles. I could maybe…help you with that?“

She was trying to make him feel better, but at this point James couldn’t be helped. He was frustrated and exhausted and frozen to the bone. Which is why he perceived her words as a comment on his lack of general fitness instead of the sensible explanation for his failure that it was.

„I’ll have you know that I’m actually quite athletic,“ he snappedat her, almost losing balance while doing so. „But this, I _hate_ this and to be quite honest, this whole–“ he almost fell again for having tried to look down at the snow under himself and instead decided to point in her direction, „I mean, you know, just not for me, sorry to have to say that.“

They continued to slide down the small hill. At first James didn‘t notice the tense silence because he was too focused on not breaking his ass, but when they were only a few meters away from the hut at the lift, he dared to glance at her: she looked…hurt.

Well, _fuck_.

James awkwardly cleared his throat. „Look, it‘s nothing against you personally, it‘s just that I‘m – uhm you see, I‘m good at anything that, you know, involves _balls_.“

Lily Evans stared at him.

They had come to a halt now and he could properly look at her: her green eyes were wide for a moment before comprehension seemed to dawn on her.

„Oh, I understand,“ she finally said.

„Yeah,“ he awkwardly mumbled into the silence that kept growing between them.

She slowly started to glide backwards. „Well, uhm, I‘m sorry for – for this, I guess.“

Why did she think she had to apologize for his lack of talent? He was such a _git_.

„Don‘t be, please! It‘s really not your fault,“ he quickly said. „This is all on me.“

But that didn‘t seem to help, because she continued to look at him with a strangely constipated expression he had never seen before on her beautiful face. He briefly wondered if she was actually about to get sick.

„Okay. Uhm, do I still – I mean, do you still want to have a lesson tomorrow?“ She hadn‘t really looked at him while she had spoken.

James realized with a jolt that his only way of spending time with Lily was this stupid, murderous sport and if he‘d stop coming out here to risk his life then –

„Yeah, if you – I mean if it‘s not too much to ask. I know, I‘m terrible but I‘d like to try.“

She nodded briskly. „No, it‘s all good. Same time again?“

„Yes, that works.“

„Okay then, I‘ll see you here tomorrow at 2pm.“

And with that Lily Evans turned around and swiftly skied away from him.

James, although not feeling entirely safe with those hellish contraptions still attached to his feet, remained glued to his spot. He knew that he had just fucked up something, but for the life of him he couldn‘t tell what that was…

* * *

\- LILY -

Lily slammed the door shut behind herself.

„Hullo, Lils!“ Muireann called from the living room.

She sounded cheerful enough.

Lily scoffed.

She shimmied out of her ski clothes and kicked off her boots, dropping all of her equipment unceremoniously in the hallway. She then walked over to the stereo and connected it to her spotify, quickly finding the playlist she was looking for.

_Why men great til they gotta be great?_

Muireann was looking at her with wide eyes as she plopped down on the sofa next to her, but choose to say nothing.

After a few seconds Mary poked her head out of the kitchen. „That bad, huh?“

Lily just grunted in response.

„Oh come on,“ Muireann sighed giving her shin a light kick, „don‘t be so dramatic, I‘m sure it wasn‘t as terrible as you think!“

„Yes, it was!“

„Well, even if it was, you still have the chance to–“

„He‘s gay,“ Lily interrupted.

Mary came slithering around the corner. „He – what?!“

„How did you find out?“ Muireann asked skeptically. Then: „Oi, did you actually muster up the courage and ask him on a date?!“

„Noooo,“ Lily whined, burying her face in a throw pillow. Thank god she hadn‘t. She felt like melting through the floor at the mere thought. The whole situation was so embarrassing that for the first time in ten years she didn‘t feel like sharing with her two best friends.

But Mary wouldn‘t ever let her get away with that. „Come on then: spill!“

She sighed. „So, first he tells me – you know: his _ski instructor_ , while _skiing_ , that he hates _skiing_ ,“ Lily paused while Muireann and Mary righteously booed James Potter, „and then he follows that up with the fun fact that he doesn‘t like me and that he‘s gay.“

„Wait, wait, wait – he actually said ‚I hate skiing‘, ‚I don‘t like you‘ and ‚I‘m gay‘ – just like that?“ Muireann asked incredulously.

„Why would he just drop that information on you out of nowhere?“ Mary added, looking equally skeptical.

_Oh, the embarrassment._

„Well,“ Lily started, „I don‘t know, but I think he could tell I was about to ask him out–“ She buried her face in her hands. „He just suddenly pointed at me and said that’s not his thing.“ More boos from her friends. „And then, oh god, I don‘t know _why_ but he felt the need to add, that he‘s good in bed – but with _men_!“

Mary and Muireann stared at her scandalized.

„Lily, what – I mean, how exactly did he say that?“ Mary asked tentatively.

„He said, that he‘s good with balls.“

„Wow.“

„Quite.“

„I mean…that‘s _really –_ “

„I know.“

„Just…wow.“

„Okay, but why does he deserve the fuckboy playlist?“ Muireann piped in. „I mean, it‘s not his fault he‘s gay. You can‘t really blame him for that.“

„Sure, yeah, but did he need to tell her like that?!“ Mary defended.

„Coming out is fucking hard, Mary! Maybe he panicked?“

They both looked at Lily while Lizzo passed the torch to Taylor Swift.

_Cause baby now we got bad blood!_

She gulped. „Yeah, I guess Muireann is right.“

Lily silenced Taylor and let Spotify shuffle through her saved songs.

_Fuck you, and you, and you!_

„Did you just –“ Mary asked incredulously.

„Is that hot girl bummer?“

„Yeah.“

„On shuffle?!“

Lily let her head fall backwards. „This is karma, isn‘t it?“

And then, because things weren‘t bad enough already, someone rang the door.

Muireann got up to answer it, while Mary relinquished her gin and tonic to Lily who immediately took a hearty swig. She really wasn‘t in the mood for guests right now and –

„Uhm, Lils,“ Muireann called, „it‘s for you!“

Great.

Lily trudged to the door, still nursing her drink, and then she nearly dropped it because James fucking Potter stood in her doorway.

„Oh hello, can I help–“

_I hate your friends and they hate me too_

Lily let out a slightly hysteric giggle as the chorus interrupted her.

„I‘ll just turn down the music,“ Muireann whispered and retreated into the flat.

This _sucked_. When Lily had first met James Potter she – well, to be honest she had believed it was one of those moments. Those moments people would write songs about and remember for the rest of their lives and other romantic shit. He had come into their office downstairs to book some lessons and in the fifteen minutes they had talked she thought they had hit it off in a way that was beyond magic. He had been funny and charming but also smart and polite and –

„Hi,“ he said. One of his hands was buried in his thick black hair. He was wearing a tight, white henley.

He was so _fucking_ perfect.

Lily giggled again.

Damn Mary. Damn her gin tonic.

„Yes – uhm hi – how can I help you?“

She noticed his eyes darting behind her. „Could we talk?“ he asked uncertainly. „Maybe…maybe outside?“

Her heart sank.

James Potter had never been anything but nice and she knew he wouldn‘t have behaved so strangely earlier if she hadn‘t done something to deserve the…explicit testicle statement.

And now he was here to tell her exactly how she had fucked up.

Lily wanted to cry.

Instead she forced herself into a polite smile. „Sure, just let me put on something.“

She hurried back into the living room to grab a coat and some shoes she could quickly slip into, when she nearly ran into Mary and Muireann who were hovering just behind the corner.

„What the fuck does he want?!“ Mary mouthed at her.

Lily allowed herself to have a quick, silent breakdown that consisted of jumping up and down on the spot while hitting herself with one of the throw pillows, then stepped into some sneakers, grabbed a coat, downed the rest of that satanic drink and marched back to the door smiling diligently.

„Thanks for waiting!“

„Of course.“

They walked for a bit in silence before he turned around and cleared his throat.

„So uhm, I came by because…well, I uh talked to my friends just now and realized something.“

His friends? The…the cute gay couple? Right.

„You see, I told them about our conversation earlier and uhm, they pointed out to me that what I said might have come across as somewhat strange.“

He was… _apologizing_?

She quickly shook her head. „Please don‘t worry about that! You see, my coworker, Muireann, she‘s asexual and I mean, I don‘t have any experience with this myself, but I can imagine how hard it must be to talk about those things and I feel horrible for putting you into a position where you felt the need to reveal that to me.“

James Potter blinked a total of twenty one times.

„Excuse me,“ he finally said, „but just what are you talking about?“

It was Lily‘s turn to blink at him in confusion. „I…I mean…you‘re gay.“

„I‘m gay?“

„I mean…I mean that‘s what you meant, right? Good with balls and all that.“

His eyes widened and the tips of his ears turned red. „Uhm, I meant…ball sports.“

„Ball sports?“

„Yeah…like football, you know? Or tennis?“

„Oh… _oh_ , ball sports.“

„Yeah, I‘m good at those.“

„Right.“ Lily nodded. It was all she could do without also throwing herself in front of one of the passing cars. She could feel his eyes on her but she was unable to look at him. How the hell had she managed to misunderstand him _this_ badly?!

„And just to be clear: I‘m not gay,“ he suddenly added.

„Oh, so it‘s just me you don‘t have a thing for,“ she blurted out.

_Lord, strike me now – I beg of you!_

His eyes widened again but this time the corners of his mouth were twitching.

„How did you arrive at that conclusion?“ James asked, sounding amused.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest. „Well, you pointed at me and said ‚not for me‘, didn‘t you?“

Now he started laughing, this bloody perfection of a man. „I meant the snow,“ he replied.

„Oh.“

Oh, indeed. Lily really needed the earth to swallow her at its earliest convenience.

„But since we‘re on the topic,“ he spoke up again, grinning widely, „I do actually have thing for you.“

Or maybe her divine punishment could wait for a tiny moment.

„For me?“ She repeated. Lily really couldn‘t afford more misunderstandings at this point.

James seemed to have read her thoughts. „Specifically and exclusively for you.“

Divine punishment _definitely_ could wait.

Lily couldn‘t help but grin back now.

„So, just to be clear: you only hate the skiing?“ She asked cheekily, having regained her dignity together with a good dose of courage.

„Yes,“ he replied enthusiastically, „I‘m a straight man who hates skiing but fancies his ski instructor – which is you, _just to be clear._ “

Lily hadn‘t managed to teach James how to ski but he did seem have given her wings, because she was fairly certain that she was floating now.

„Well, in that case,“ she said seriously, „I strongly suggest you cancel that skiing lesson tomorrow.“

„That does seem to be sensible,“ James hummed in agreement, „but I do wonder what I should do instead. It can get terribly boring down here in the village, you see.“

Lily couldn‘t stop smiling – beaming, really. With their feet on firm ground they had that easy, playful chemistry again that had fascinated her the day they had met. She just wished she‘d discovered that at the beginning of his stay.

Only one way to fix that.

„You might wanna consider some ball games instead.“

James‘ mouth fell open at her words. But he caught himself quickly. „And, just to be clear, do you mean my type of ball game or…your _interpretation_?“

Lily laughed. She stepped around him and started walking backwards towards her building. „Meet me here at 2pm and you‘ll find out.“

**Author's Note:**

> So I scribbled this up for the December Jily challenge on the 31st of December because I just couldn't handle my prompt which was: " you’re my hot ski instructor and i’m failing the bunny hill". I hope this isn't too much of an embarrassment, because I just wrote it all down in one go and didn't check shit. 
> 
> In the end I based this off something that my dad actually, deadass has said: He was failing to ice skate and defended himself by proudly announcing that he might not have balance, but that he's excellent at anything that involves balls.
> 
> Bless him.
> 
> And bless you, if you read this <3


End file.
